302 
CALABAR  BEAN  AS  AN  ANTIDOTE. 
A  set  of  Mandon's  plants  of  the  Andes  of  Bolivia  ;  acquired 
by  purchase. 
A  fine  general  collection  of  Algce,  from  Professor  Agardh 
of  Lund,  authentically  named,  according  to  his  new  Species 
Algarum. 
But  the  most  notable  accession  is  the  munificent  gift  which 
has  just  heen  made  by  John  A.  Lowell,  Esq.,  of  all  the  botan- 
ical books  of  his  own  library  which  the  new  establishment  did 
not  already  possess,  being  chiefly  very  large,  choice,  and  costly 
works,  such  as  the  Flora  Danica,  Sibthorp's  Flora  Grseca,  Bate- 
man's  Orchidacese  of  Guatemala,  the  Botanical  Register,  Botan- 
ical Cabinet,  Botanical  Repository,  Richenback's  Icones,  the 
large  edition  of  Duhamel,  the  great  works  of  Jacquin,  and  others 
of  the  same  character, — in  all  335  volumes,  the  pecuniary  value 
of  which  must  be  reckoned  at  several  thousand  dollars. — Amer . 
Jour.  Jour.  Sci.  and  Arts,  March,  1865. 
THE  EFFECTS  OF  THE  CALABAR-BEAN  AS  AN  ANTIDOTE 
TO  POISONING  BY  ATROPIA. 
In  the  ophthalmic  department  of  the  hospital  at  Prague  last 
August,  four  boys, engaged  in  cleaning  the  room,  drank  a  portion 
of  a  solution  of  atropia,  thinking  that  it  contained  spirits.  Two 
of  the  boys  either  spat  out  or  vomited  the  fluid,  and  exhibited 
no  symptoms  of  poisoning,  but  the  two  others  who  did  not 
vomit  were  distinctly  poisoned — one,  however,  much  more  so 
than  the  other.  The  symptoms  were  those  of  poisoning  by 
belladonna,  arid  consisting  of  delirium,  dilatation  of  the  pupils, 
feeble  pulse,  and  in  one  there  was  coma,  alternating  with  furi- 
ous delirium.  Both  of  the  patients  were  taken  to  bed,  one  of 
them  being  restrained  in  a  straight-jacket,  and  cold  lotions  were 
placed  on  their  heads.  Dr.  Kleinwachter  happened  accidentally 
to  have  with  him  a  solution  of  the  Calabar-bean  extract  in  gly- 
cerin, and  by  way  of  experiment,  he  gave  to  the  patient  who 
was  the  most  affected  ten  drops  of  the  solution  (six  grains  of 
extract  to  one  drachm  of  glycerine)  which  in  about  a  quarter  of 
an  hour  produced  violent  vomiting.  The  pulse  became 
stronger  and  quicker,  and  rose  to  seventy-five  and  to 
eighty    in  the   minute,  the  temperature  of  the  body  fell, 
